Daleavor 1.0

• Versions
• 1.0

"They are good folk, the Bardings. The grandson of Bard the Bowman rules them, Brand son of Bain son of Bard. He is a strong king, and his realm now reaches far south and east of Esgaroth. Also his allies are super OP." - Gloin, The Fellowship of the Ring

Yes, it is another Dale deck, but why not?! These guys are awesome! Dale has been a recent deck obsession I have had. They are strong in questing, defending, and attacking! What's not to love? This deck is great fun once it gets going. It relies greatly on your allies, as all Dale decks do. However, I find it more interesting than Outlands or Dwarf swarm decks because of the attachment play. Putting attachments on the right character for what is needed, moving attachments around during combat, etc. This deck can handle solo play with some substitutions (see sideboard), but really shines in multiplayer when you can just focus on getting a massive board state and leave healing/threat reduction to another player.

Solo Victories

Passage Through Mirkwood, Into the Pit, The Battle of Five Armies, The Long Arm of Mordor, The Ring Goes South

Multiplayer Victories

The King's Quest (Watch it played on The Wandering Took's YouTube Channel: https://youtu.be/v35YvKM0vZQ), Murder at the Prancing Pony, Journey Up the Anduin

Opening Hand

The most important cards for you to have in your opening hand are King of Dale and Steward of Gondor. Mulligan hard for these cards. However, all hope is not lost if you don't get them. Beravor is your card draw engine. Every turn she should be drawing you two cards. Do not worry about her stats. If you get lucky, the best hand you can get is Steward, King of Dale, two Bow of Yew or a Bow of Yew and a Map of Rhovanion, a Traffic from Dale, a dale ally, and an attachment to put on said ally. If you can get an attachment on both Bard son of Brand and Brand son of Bain in the first turn with Brand still having one resource, it is possible to play Traffic from Dale to get him two resources. With those two resources, play Steward of Gondor on Bard and use it to get him two resources. Spend those two resources to get King of Dale on him and play any Dale ally in your hand for a reduced cost of two (one less for King of Dale, and one less for the other attachment on him).

General Play and Combos

By now most people know that every Dale ally has its own attachment that is best with it. Warrior of Dale gets Bow of Yew, North Realm Lookout gets Map of Rhovanion, etc. Guardian of Esgaroth is where the fun begins. I tend to load mine up with Squire's Helm and Valiant Determination when going into questing. This makes him a 4/3/3/5 ally that doesn't exhaust to quest. Also during the quest phase I make sure that my North Realm Lookouts have Spare Hood and Cloak attached. This makes for a fun combat trick. You can exhaust your Guardian of Esgaroth to defend an enemy attack. Before the shadow is revealed, exhaust North Realm Lookout using Spare Hood and Cloak's ability to ready the Guardian. Now you have a 5/4/4/6 ally that has just defended and is ready to hit back! You get use of all three of the GoE's stats this way, making him a real powerhouse. At the beginning of the next round, use Long Lake Trader to move the SHaC back to the NRL, and do it all again! I generally use the GoE to defend my enemies, and have Redwater Sentry defend for other players in multiplayer. Spare Hood and Cloak can also be used with Faramir for a massive quest push, allowing you to use his ability multiple times. Long Lake Fisherman is there to help you go through your deck faster. Many cards have cost of 1 or 2, so naming one of those is a good call.

Conclusion

If you are looking to play this deck solo, I would suggest substituting 1 Trader and 1 Fisherman for two Warden of Healing. If you know you are going against a quest with a lot of threat raising, I would also recommend substituting one Bartering and one Warrior of Dale for two The Galadhrim's Greeting. I hope you enjoy the deck!